After TJ Dillashaw lost to UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo on Saturday in Brooklyn, he called on an immediate rematch at 125 pounds. It made sense -- despite more weight to cut -- because he did not want his UFC bantamweight belt on the line and hoped to become a double champion.
Two days later, he has had a change of heart.
Dillashaw told ESPN on Monday he's now open to having Cejudo come up to bantamweight for a chance at his title.
"The stoppage was controversial, and we need to do it again," Dillashaw said on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show. "Of course I want to do it at 125, but I'll do it at whatever weight class. I'll fight him at 125 for a 135-pound belt. I just want that fight back."
Cejudo's first-round finish at Barclays Center, just 32 seconds into the flyweight championship bout, has been under scrutiny the past couple of days. He dropped Dillashaw with a right-hand that grazed the back of Dillashaw's head. While on the ground, Cejudo landed multiple hard punches before referee Kevin MacDonald stepped into call it early.
Dillashaw said he wasn't badly hurt at the time and was attempting to initiate a grappling scramble that could have ended with him up and out of harm's way.
UFC president Dana White told reporters after the fight that he did not agree with the early stoppage.
"Listen, you've got two of the best guys in the world, two world champions, in a superfight. Let them fight, let them finish," White said in Brooklyn. "I'm not taking anything away from Cejudo, because the fight went 20 seconds and Cejudo busted him up. I'm sure when you saw (Dillashaw) sitting here, it looks like he was in a three-round fight, but ... let them fight. Horrible stoppage."
Dillashaw echoed those comments on Monday.
"I've earned the right to fight until I can't physically go anymore," the UFC bantamweight champion said. "That was taken from me Saturday night. It needs to be made right by running it back."
It's difficult to predict what will happen next. In a perfect world, Dillashaw said, it will happen at the lighter division -- even with the more excruciating weight cut.
"I'll take the fight wherever. I'm open to whatever because that's the situation I'm in," he said. "But if it was up to me, I would fight him tomorrow at 125. I'll make the weight tomorrow, I don't even care. I want that fight. I want to prove the work I put in and the science behind my weight cut and everything that I've done is there.
"I put in a ton of work and just want to be able to show it. I want that right to live and die by the sword."